The Hottest Place In Hell Is Reserved for Those Who Build Prisons

There are few things that shock me anymore. But the manufacturing of this self-imposed Californian "budget crisis" has come pretty close.

Plain and simple, this current "crisis" is due to the militarization of US society at every level. Federally, the morally bankrupt "war on terror" occupies and imprisons sovereign countries. State-wide, billions of dollars are used to construct new prisons to hold more people, people who are being yanked back into prison from parole or for "breaking" hundreds of new laws that target the Black, Brown and poor. On the county and city levels, we are seeing 1000s of more cops and sheriffs to profile, raid and imprison folks. The omnivorous prison/police state has become Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhees hacking away at the social welfare state and the remnants of the victories of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements.

What Is the Common Link?

1. Police, prisons and military are the main growth industry (even Obama's stimulus plan has 6 billion earmarked for prisons and police not counting the Department of Homeland Security piece of the pie); and
2. It is always the same sector of people that bear the brunt of these racially targeted policies. From the West Bank to West Oakland, East LA to East Timor, from South Lebanon to South LA-Black, Brown and poor.

In the US, 1 in every 100 people is in prison [1]; 1 in every 45 is either in prison, on probation or on parole. Blacks are 12% of the US prison population but are more than 40% of the 2.3 million in US jails and prisons. Add that to Latinos and Black and Brown together make up 60% of the people in cages while only being 25% of the US population.

California's Corrections

In 1984, California prisons captured 24,000 prisoners, today they hold 173,000; in 1984 the CA Department of Corrections budget was $300 million today it is $11 billion. Over 70% of those sent to Californian prisons and jails [2] are there for technical parole violations in other words they were not convicted of a new "crime." It has taken a hearty bi-partisan effort to achieve this impressive rate of growth.

The California state legislature is continuously passing more laws to be used to encage more people. Because of these legislators gone wild prisons are at 200% capacity. Because of overcrowding, the federal govt. is threatening to force CA to release prisoners but instead California passes AB900 to build more cages as the solution for an eviscerated social safety net.

AB 900 and ABX1-10: The Largest Prison Construction Project In the World

So let's look at how the police/prison growth industry has been affected by the economic downturn.

At a time when the California government can't pay its bills or cut welfare checks to the neediest, a time when it is sending IOUs for tax returns, it is driving forward (guns a blazin') with the largest prison construction project in the world: a project that would have the California prison system (projected at 225,000 prisoners) eclipse the entire federal prison population [3] (199,618 as of Dec/07), in other words almost a 10-fold increase in California prisoners in 24 years.

We're talking about AB 900 and its evil twin ABX1-10. Together, these bills represent the latest bipartisan attempt to incur more state debt in addition to the projected $42 billion deficit by the end of FY 09-10. Passed by the Democratic legislature almost a year and a half ago with the support of the Republican governor, they would lasso $12 billion for 53,000 new prison and jail beds. Of course, this is only for construction and not the additional $1.6 Billion a year to pay the guards time and a half overtime, the barbwire, the shackles and shotguns (aka-operations).

AB900/ABX1-10 is an abomination [4]; its racially targeted web will wipe out entire communities. We have to organize against it. Even if you're a liberal minded person who turns a blind eye to structural racism or who thinks that we live in a "post-racial" society, I would hope that in the interest of ensuring that the prison beast doesn't take away social welfare programs that you care about you would still be able to agree that this is pure lunacy and must be stopped.

What to do:

• No mandatory parole for those released from prisons
• End technical parole violations
• Release elderly and ill prisoners
• Cut overtime for prison guards
• End mandatory minimumsRepeal three strikes
• No more gang enhancements
• Treat addiction and mental health issues medically
• Get involved with Californians United for a Responsible Budget [5] (CURB)

The Strategy Center is involved with CURB's work to tame the prison beast. Your organization should get involved [6], too.